"But this is no ordinary history. It is not a reconstruction but a deconstruction, a
virtuoso display of how to interrogate one's sources. Not only that, it is written with
sly subtlety, delightful humour and an agreeable absence of jargon."

"But how much do we really know about Rome's supreme honour, and how much is
myth and invention? Not much and quite a lot, it turns out. Beard's brilliant analysis
locates the ritual in the shifting political, social and martial worlds of Rome.
Illuminating moments abound..."

"Reading Mary Beard's The Roman Triumph, makes you realise that the inherited
professional wisdom isn't much more accurate that [a] TV version, because our
supposedly informed view of what a triumph was really like turns out to be a
bricolage of scraps of information, recycled so often it has taken on its own authority.
This book gives a bracing lesson in the use and abuse of evidence, as Beard teases
apart the various bits and pieces that have gone to make up the conglomerate picture
of the timeless essence of the triumph. This learned and spirited book could have been
no more than an exercise in debunking and dismantling. Beard enjoys debunking and
dismantling, and does it with panache, but her unpicking of the evidence and her
demolition of the consensus is not meant to create an epistemological no-man's land:
she wants to highlight the rewarding difficulty of the project of history, not its
impossibility."

It followed every major military victory in ancient Rome: the successful general drove through the streets to the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill; behind him streamed his raucous soldiers; in front were his most glamorous prisoners, as well as the booty he'd captured, from enemy ships and precious statues to plants and animals from the conquered territory. Occasionally there was so much on display that the show lasted two or three days.A radical re-examination of this most extraordinary of ancient ceremonies, this book explores the magnificence of the Roman triumph - but also its darker side. What did it mean when the axle broke under Julius Caesar's chariot? Or when Pompey's elephants got stuck trying to squeeze through an arch? Or when exotic or pathetic prisoners stole the general's show? And what are the implications of the Roman triumph, as a celebration of imperialism and military might, for questions about military power and "victory" in our own day? The triumph, Mary Beard contends, prompted the Romans to question as well as celebrate military glory.Her richly illustrated work is a testament to the profound importance of the triumph in Roman culture - and for monarchs, dynasts and generals ever since.

But how can we re-create the ceremony as it was celebrated in Rome? How can we piece together its elusive traces in art and literature? Beard addresses these questions, opening a window on the intriguing process of sifting through and making sense of what constitutes "history."

2008-06-19 Just a big parade

Here is the problem, the sources are two thousand years old and generation upon generation of scholars have tilled the same soil in search of new growth. The roots are the usual suspects, the Roman literary doyens. This is supplemented by new bits of fragmented archaeology. What you have is, more or less, what you are going to get. Classical academic historians must struggle for originality, often cannibalistically devouring each other's work.

The triumph was simply a procession to honour Roman military victors, display the spoils and enhance the individual's prestige getting to the top of the career ladder. It is one of the most enduring - but inaccurately depicted - images of ancient Rome. Hollywood loves it. It was a big parade, rowdy and colourful with plenty of alcohol. Distil the text and obvious aspects emerge. It was an event that provoked fun, resentment as well as respect. There was money to be made from it. The triumph was represented in Roman art, and has captured artistic attention since. However, as Beard says, "there is no reliable modern guide to the triumph during the Roman participates, over the three centuries between the reign of Augustus and the beginning of the Christian empire - and one should probably include the last three centuries BCE as well."

Dr Beard has written a book that seeks to fill this gap. How? At the conclusion of the book, I felt there was enough substantive material for a short essay, 25 pages (the origins of the book are her essay "Triumph of the Absurd" she notes on page 419). One reviewer states " How much do we really know about Rome's supreme honour, and how much is myth and invention? Not much and quite a lot, it turns out." That has not deterred Dr Beard. Her book stretches to 333 pages supported by 84 pages of notes (some 25% of the book is notes, why not have a web page linked to the book, spare the trees, save the planet....!). Apparently, there were 320 triumphs celebrated in Rome with the majority being in the Republic, Emperors were reticent to focus glory on potential rivals.

This is a hard book to finish. Dr Beard makes a virtue of her methodology, saying what she has written is as much about how we know as much as what we know. She tells us just as mathematicians do, she will show her workings. Clever stuff for High Table but this is self-indulgent. Perhaps I fail to see the elegance of her arguments, but for me the Empress has no clothes.